Nicole Coleman, Court Assistant

Court Assistant Nicole Coleman and the Queens County Help Center Staff received the New York State Courts Access to Justice Program's DIY Star Award on March 16, 2011, at a ceremony held at the Queens County Family Court.

NYS Courts Access to Justice Program Director Judge Fern A. Fisher, Administrative Judge for the NYC Family Court Edwina G. Richardson-Mendelson, Deputy Chief Clerk for the NYC Family Court George Cafasso, Supervising Judge of Queens County Family Court Carol Stokinger, Queens County Clerk of the Court Vaunda Harris-Strachan, and NYS Courts Access to Justice Program Chief Counsel Rochelle Klempner, all spoke with stellar praise for the recipients and their extraordinary team effort to promote the DIY Form programs in Queens, furthering equal access to justice for unrepresented litigants.

In the last six months of 2010, 798 Support Modification Petition User Surveys and 218 Paternity Petition User Surveys were returned to the NYS Courts Access to Justice Program from litigants using the programs in Queens County! The User Surveys indicate that the majority of the DIY Form programs were completed in the Queens Family Court with the assistance of Court Help Center staff. The survey comments clearly show the great care and assistance that the Help Center staff, under the direction of Assistant Deputy Chief Clerk Judy LaRose, have been providing. A sample of the User Survey comments can be read below.

The survey comments written by the unrepresented litigants also repeatedly singled out Court Assistant Nicole Coleman for her patience, assistance, friendliness and professionalism. Ms. Coleman was awarded her own DIY Star Award due to the overwhelming appreciative litigant feedback for her services.

Nicole Coleman and Judge Fern Fisher

The NYS Courts Access to Justice Program also acknowledged Judy LaRose for her role in the Queen’s Family Court’s tremendous improvement in DIY Form service to the unrepresented public, and thanked Judy for her valuable contribution testing prototypes and providing feedback during the development of the DIY Family Court programs. Supervising Judge Stokinger and Clerk of the Court Vaunda Harris-Strachan were praised for their stewardship and their Court's accomplishment.

The award presentation included a delicious home-baked reception graciously catered by Family Court staff. A big thank you to Judge Stokinger and Marie Geneva-Frank for their coffeecakes, Rena Gottfried for her whoopie pies and banana-nut cookies, Emily Martinez for her cake, Liz Songen for the cookies, and most importantly to Doug Forman for making the coffee! Both Judge Fisher and Judge Richardson-Mendelson remarked on how the Queens Family Court truly works together as a "family."

"The staff were all great, too good to be true. I'm used to the old way of no help and bad people. Your improvements are fantastic. Everywhere else should lead by these people's example." - Paternity Program, October 7, 2010